Organizers of the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in April have announced that the show will no longer hire sexy and attractive women to adorn cars.

That should come as a sad news for car enthusiasts who have attended past Shanghai auto fairs because they will have to contend themselves with just nice cars, no more attractive young women.

Like Us on Facebook

The news about organizers considering the exclusion of female models in the event triggered public outcry.

The Shanghai auto fair, which started in 1985, is considered as China's oldest international automobile exhibition. The fair has since then featured scantily dressed models.

The revealing models have been used by automakers to attract attention of consumers into their cars. Latest study showed that China's car buyers have become younger and car dealers hope to seal deals using attractive models.

But several car manufacturers insisted that female models should be taken off the event so that buyers can focus on the car they are buying and not on the models.

"Auto shows in other cities should also stop using models. It's also better to cancel the performances of celebrities," Yang Xueliang, head of the public relations department of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, one of China's major automobile manufacturers, posted on his microblog after learning of the decision.

"Give a pure automobile show back to customers," he wrote.

Several other cities have also considered regulating the presence of scantily-dressed models in auto fairs, instead of banning them altogether.

Organizers of an auto fair scheduled for March in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, insisted on opening the event with attractive models.

"The models who wear revealing costumes make up only a small proportion of all models," said Dang Jiani, 25, a veteran model from Beijing.

"The models don't decide which costumes they're going to wear for the shows. If automakers provide dresses that are too scanty, we make minor changes to make them not so revealing."

World-class car manufactures, she added, design high-end costumes in good taste to match the vehicles' design concepts.

TagsShanghai Auto Fair, Shanghai Auto Fair Models